Flamingos on a slackline: Companies' challenges of balancing the competing demands of handling customer information and privacy

Abstract

Providers of online services are under increasing pressure to leverage the value inherent in customer data to remain competitive. At the same time, however, Internet users' privacy has become more and more subject to public debate, and companies must protect this privacy if they want to attract and retain customers. It seems that companies struggle to satisfy these competing demands, and neglecting either could have detrimental effects on their success. Different streams of research underline the importance of either privacy protection or the collection and use of customer information. But they remain largely /journal/isj information and privacy as a new but important context in which organizational ambidexterity is required. We offer a detailed perspective on the specific challenges that companies face with respect to customer information and privacy, and our results can guide managers who have to deal with these challenges.

Market-oriented corporate digital responsibility to manage data vulnerability in online banking

“…websites) become more adept at collecting and sharing information, often without sufficiently accommodating personal security needs and obligations (Adorjan and Ricciardelli, 2019). Specifically, research investigating consumers' vulnerability and how banks determine optimal disclosure levels when managing sensitive information is limited (Gerlach et al , 2019). Furthermore, a research gap also exists concerning how much of the risk associated with data disclosure is perceived or actual (Wu, 2019).…”

Enhancing consumer perceptions of privacy and trust: a GDPR label perspective

“…Organizations face challenges in balancing the need to leverage consumer data with potential negative consequences of perceived disregard for consumers' privacy (Gerlach et al, 2019). Indeed, privacy research has long grappled with recommendations around finding the ideal balance of transparency (Gerlach et al, 2019) and communicating with consumers in ways that inform them of privacy practices without raising concern (Karwatzki et al, 2017). We provide further support for studies advocating visualized privacy policies (e.g.…”

“…Our study also offers important insights from a practical perspective and answers calls for research on effective privacy policy visualization (Soumelidou and Tsohou, 2019) and privacy policy research in the E-commerce context (Libaque-S aenz et al, 2021). Organizations face challenges in balancing the need to leverage consumer data with potential negative consequences of perceived disregard for consumers' privacy (Gerlach et al, 2019). Indeed, privacy research has long grappled with recommendations around finding the ideal balance of transparency (Gerlach et al, 2019) and communicating with consumers in ways that inform them of privacy practices without raising concern (Karwatzki et al, 2017).…”

Corporate Data Sharing, Leakage, and Supervision Mechanism Research

“…For example, in 2017, Equifax announced that more than 145 million customers' sensitive information had been stolen, resulting in 240 consumer lawsuits resulting in nearly $90 million in default-related costs [10,11]. Previous studies have shown that data leakage can reduce the market value of enterprises, cause large fluctuations in the stock market [12], and even affect the behaviors of competitors in the market [13].…”